


Audience

by ancalime8301



Category: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Community: watsons_woes, Gen, Prompt Fic, Story: The Adventure of the Six Napoleons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-31
Updated: 2015-07-31
Packaged: 2018-04-12 07:57:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4471433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ancalime8301/pseuds/ancalime8301
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Watson muses on Holmes' need of an audience.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Audience

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://watsons-woes.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://watsons-woes.livejournal.com/)**watsons_woes** July Writing Prompt #31: _Putting on a Show. Canon is full of colourful characters, and we all know Holmes loves an audience for his deductions. Whether it's a grand gesture, breaking the fourth wall, or just the conclusion of a case in front of a crowd, make an audience part of today's entry._  
>  (I played with the idea of having an audience, rather than the actual presence of one.)

Long have I thought that Holmes pursued his cases solely for the stimulation they provide. The usual motives of money and fame do not apply to him, for I have seen him refuse payment in some cases and he ever insists upon Scotland Yard taking credit for his solutions in the newspapers.

The case of the Napoleons, however, revealed that he, too, is susceptible to the praise and admiration of his fellow man, or at least the praise of those he respects. It was reassuring to have a glimpse of the man beneath that reserved nature, and I began to suspect that Holmes valued having an audience for his cleverness, though he would never say so.

Then, as I prepared my notes to write up another of our cases, I realized how frequently Holmes' audience was comprised solely of his client and myself. As much as it seems like self-flattery to think so, I wonder if all Holmes truly needs is an audience of one.

**Author's Note:**

> The relevant canon passage:  
>  _Lestrade and I sat silent for a moment, and then, with a spontaneous impulse, we both broke out clapping, as at the well-wrought crisis of a play. A flush of colour sprang to Holmes’s pale cheeks, and he bowed to us like the master dramatist who receives the homage of his audience. It was at such moments that for an instant he ceased to be a reasoning machine, and betrayed his human love for admiration and applause. The same singularly proud and reserved nature which turned away with disdain from popular notoriety was capable of being moved to its depths by spontaneous wonder and praise from a friend._  
>  -[The Adventure of the Six Napoleons](http://www.ignisart.com/camdenhouse/canon/sixn.htm)


End file.
